Daniel Baker, R.N. (nursedan) wrote in btvsal, @ 2009-10-27 02:17:00 |
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Entry tags: | cj swinton, place: la, ~daniel baker |
Maybe Getting Stood Up Has It's Benefits?
Who: Danny Baker & CJ
Where: Avarice then Danny's apartment
When: Friday night, Oct. 23rd.
Avarice was not the place he'd pick based on the music he'd heard coming from the place ont he street, personally it was a little too heavy for his taste. But the date he was meeting loved the place so Danny could buck it up for one night.
He didn't see her inside so headed to the bar wearing a dark blue t-shirt, tattos on both biceps peeking out from underneath and showing off the tribal tat on his left forearm, and another tattoo on his right. Dark jeans and boots completed the look. Hey, his date said casual, this was casual to the nurse after spending hours in hospital scrubs all day. Taking a seat at the bar, he tried catching the bartenders attention.
Meanwhile, Fridays were ALWAYS good for business, and CJ knew it. So she dressed for tips mostly, wearing brown hip-hugging, low-rise leather pants, and a burgundy corset that was likely a tad bit smaller than she'd normally wear. A worn-in cowboy hat finished the ensemble, and she had a helluva smile kickin' there, as she was making serious tips this evening. Swaying her hips a bit as she walked, she approached Danny and winked at him. "Hey there, sweetie... can I get you anything?"
Heh, the nurse definitely took in the view. Wasn't she friendly. Well, CJ's friendliness was infectious and Danny smiled back, asking loudly, "What do you have on tap?"
Kellie: "We got... MGD, Bud, Coors, and Rolling Rock. Trust me, the MGD is the freshest, so... I'd go with that." Well, he seemed awful sweet. Made her wonder what he was doing in this place, which was basically a meat market on Fridays. "Got a name, darlin'?"
Holding out some bills to the bartender with a grin, Danny shrugged, "Guess I'll go with the lady's suggestion. MGD it is." He leaned in to hear her question better, "Oh, the name's Danny." He grinned, "Do I get the pleasure of knowing yours?"
"CJ." She said with a simple wink, leaning over the bar a little, offering a nice, not-so-subtle cleavage shot. "So what brings you to our fine establishment tonight?"
CJ. It had a nice ring to it, Danny thought. "I got a date..." He glanced to the very wide dark brown leather banded watch he wore, "...who is fifteen minutes late." The nurse said with a hint of disappointment, not liking tardiness. If the girl showed up, he hoped it was a damn good explanation.
"Hmph. Girl'd haveta be dumb to let a good-lookin' guy like you go waitin'." Oh, yeah, CJ loved to flirt, but he really DID seem like a nice guy.
Danny laughed a little, "I'm beginning to think that myself." He leaned on the bar, turning slightly to look at the crowd, seeing if he'd spot his date with no success. Turning back to CJ he reminded her, "How 'bout that beer, sweetheart?" He arched a brow at her.
D'oh! She'd gotten so caught up in flirting that she'd forgotten to get him his drink. Thank god neither Patience nor Ben were here to catch that. She'd be teased for weeks. She quickly poured the beer, sliding it in front of him. "Sorry 'bout that."
Honestly, he didn't understand why people did that to each other. Of course, if something had happened to his date, he'd completely understand the blow off but for anything else? That was just cruel.
While CJ poured him his beer, Danny got the chance to check the attractive bartender out. The nurse had to admit he liked what he saw. CJ had this look that crossed rockstar and country girl next door rather well. Not to mention that killer smile.
Shaking his head when he got his beer, Danny reassured her, "No worries, as long as I got it." He winked at her and took a sip.
The best part was, most people that only knew CJ from work would never recognize her outside of it, just by the difference in how she dressed.
The bartender gave him another lazy, sweet grin and winked to him.
"We'll, if she don't show up, darlin', let me know. I'd be glad to keep ya company."
A brow arched over the rim of his glass as he picked up again and sipped. When he set it back down, Danny replied, "Somehow, I don't think the rest of your customer's would appreciate that." He lips curved into a slight grin, glancing down the bar and back to CJ, "Although, I'm thinking it's a real possibility that she's not gonna show."
"Tell ya what darlin'," she said with a laugh, knowing this wasn't usually how she'd act, but that she'd been feeling far too lonely to turn away someone single, cute, AND sweet. "Lemme call Nevada out to take over for a while, and we can go sit down and talk."
Okay, he was pretty sure that the alcohol content wasn't THAT high in this beer, but did he just hear CJ say she'd call Nevada? Danny regarded CJ a bit, wondering if she had knocked back a few herself. "Seriously. Someone actually named their child, Nevada?"
"She's a sweet gal, so no makin' fun." CJ chided with a raised brow. "Sides... Ya got a gal tryin' to flirt with you, and yer worried about another chick's name?"
Danny held up his hands in surrender, "Hey, I just call 'em like I see 'em, sweetheart!" He laughing replied, glancing to his watch. Yeah, his date was 30 minutes late now. It was official, Daniel Baker was getting stood up. He sighed, "Well, I guess I can't deny a girl trying to flirt with me."
"You'd haveta be a dumb man to turn me down, sweetie." She winked, obviously only teasing. "And you don't seem like a dummy." She turned then, yelling to the back office. "Yo! Nevada! Wanna take over for a bit out here?"
Nevada poked her head out from the office, a phone to her ear looking annoyed, but it wasn't at CJ. Holding up a finger to the other bartender, the petite woman said harshly into the phone, "No, that shit is supposed to be here tomorrow, got it? My fiancée and his sister doesn't shell out the kind of money they do for you to be late in delivery! To. Mor. Row." The former soldier shut the phone off, effectively ending the conversation. Yeah, she was a little firecracker wasn't she.
Danny stared in open mouthed awe as the petite woman came up next to CJ, apparently gone from irritated to happy in .2 seconds. To CJ she smiled, "You need a break? Go on, I got this." To the rest of the bar, she yelled, "WHO'S NEXT!?" And went off to help the next person. Watching Nevada a moment, Danny looked to CJ then, "Uh...wow."
"Tolja." CJ said with a triumphant smirk. "Not a chick to be messed with. Now... Shall we?"
Daniel stood, beer glass in hand and gestured to CJ, "Lead the way." He smiled.
After getting them to one of the higher-tables (working here had its advantages!), the curvy bartender turned a chair around, straddling it with a cheery grin. "So... Tell me a lil' about yerself."
It was a little quieter where CJ led them to, which was a bit of a relief to Danny. He wasn't entirely sure he could spend the evening shouting at the woman. At the question, Danny dropped his chin into his hand, the other rotating the beer glass while he shrugged slightly, "I'm a nurse. At L.A. General," He added, a modest smile on his face, "I'd ask you what you do for a living, but I already know." The nurse teased.
"Couldn't normally just do this and pay the bills, but, the Bales pay very generously." She replied with a sweet smile, acting a little more like herself now. "Not exactly livin' the high life, but I'm at least making ends meet. And damn... I wish I got nurses that look like you when I go to the hospital..."
Danny laughed at that, shifting a little in his chair. He wasn't used to comments like that, although he got plenty at the hospital from patients much older than CJ. Perhaps that was why he could laugh them off casually. But someone close to his age? Definitely a different story. He cleared his throat and continued, "The hospital keeps me busy and I'm very lucky if I get to keep my days off. Which," He paused to take a sip of his beer, "is why I'm rather disappointed my date stood me up."
"I'd say ya hit the jackpot this time. No way was she as cool as I am." Honestly, she was kidding. She even smirked when she said it.
"Well, I'm starting to be really glad she suggested this place. I wouldn't have come otherwise." Danny smiled and admitted, "Well, you're certainly not <i>unpleasant</i> company."
"Yeah, I guess I'm... Ok." She laughed and winked again. Gah, she felt soooo out of practice here. Hell, she hadn't been on a real date in close to two years. She leaned down again, flashing a tantalizing glimpse of her best assets. "So what do you like to do on the rare occasion you have free time?"
CJ's...assets certainly warranted some attention, however, although Danny was a guy, even <i>he</i> thought it was rather rude of someone to blatantly oogle a woman's finer points. He laughed at her question, "Aw, you're not gonna like the answer." Finishing off the beer, he admitted, "I actually use the time to catch up on some sleep." He sighed, "Then the whole vicious cycle starts over again."
"Poor baby..." She coo'ed with a smile. "Think you might be able to find the time to have dinner sometime? Gotta live a little, after all..."
The nurse arched a brow at the bartender. He laughed and then teased the woman, "Are you asking me out on a date?"
"Aint that all modern-woman of me?" She grinned a toothy grin and shrugged. "You sayin' you wouldn't wanna?"
"Oh, no!" Danny shook his head, spreading his arms a bit, "I wouldn't mind at all." He smirked, pushing the empty glass aside while dropping his chin in his hand again.
"Lucky for you, I'm a fun date. I love bars, bowling, arcades, karaoke, all that stuff." She leaned forward against the chair she straddled, laughing over how forward and aggressive she must seem.
The nurse had to admit, "That does sound like fun and..." He paused to pondering something, fingers running over the scruff on his chin, "Man, I haven't been bowling in ages come to think it." Which was true because Danny was fairly busy. His routine was pretty much, get up, run for an hour, shower, head to the hospital work his shift, eat and grab whatever sleep he could get. Days off were a blessing.
"Well, good. That my complete suckage won't be as completely apparent." She loved bowling, but damn... She was baaaaad at it. "The bright side is, when I bowl, I bend over, and it tends to distract the boys into playing just as bad."
Daniel arched a brow and grinned a little, "Really. Well, it certainly would be a pleasant distraction!" He laughed.
"Thankfully I got no shame, then." She gave a bubbly laugh, thinking to herself that she did have a LITTLE shame... she'd never dance or anything at Ben's other club... "What's a good night for ya?"
The nurse decided that he very much liked CJ's laugh. Leaning his head against a fist, he thought about when he'd be free, "Well, barring any call in's, I'm free this Monday. Although I stop by the children's cancer ward for a couple ours on my off-days."
"You do?" She asked with a cute little giggle that made her seem far more innocent than she was. "That's so sweet!"
Danny nodded, "Yeah, I take a couple hours out of my day off to play the cello for the kids. It's fun for them and I'm doing something good. So..." The nurse shrugged at CJ's little gush at the end and Danny shook his head, "It's--It's the right thing to do, so...yeah."
"Ok, see... you hit my soft spot there. I love kids so damn much..." The bartender felt her heart go aflutter briefly, as a good-looking, successful man who also adored children? Wasn't very common. At least, not also straight. "You're pretty amazing."
If the club wasn't rather dark, Danny was sure CJ would've noticed the embarrassed blush spread across his cheeks. Considering he had three older sisters, you'd think he'd be used to women gushing over him, but he wasn't. That was, perhaps, due to his lack of socializing since graduating college and becoming a nurse. His job took up a lot of his time and what little he had to spare was spent partly at the hospital, his apartment catching up on personal things, and family in the area. Danny cleared his throat, "Uh...thanks."
"Shame you had to waste an evening off on a jerk that didn't bother to show up though..." CJ said with that look that announced rather loudly that she had an idea. She wasn't normally pushy or forward, except when behind the bar, but Danny seemed like a really nice guy, and she felt bad that he'd been stood up. "If it's not too late, want to make that date tonight? I'd be happy to take that other gal's place..."
Danny shrugged, the gestured seeming to say, <i>yeah, well there's not much I can do about that</i>. A small smile curved on his lips at her suggestion and he had to tease her, "Oh, in a hurry are you?" The nurse stared back at in her silence after that, finger tapping on the table while he contemplated and then shrugged again, "Sure, why not."
"In a hurry?" She knew he was teasing, but that fiery temper threatened to bubble up. "Well, 'scuse me for wanting to make tonight a nice evening for ya..." She gave a cute scowl, still keeping the mood light. "Most guys would jump at the chance."
The nurse laughed, why was he not surprised? The woman across from him was gorgeous so who could deny her? Obviously not Danny, at least not that night. He then nodded at her, "So, when do you get off?"
Part of her wanted to say, 'depends on how good you are', but she didn't want to come off as too trampy here. "Technically, I'm off tonight. I just came in to help Nev for a while. Long as she's good, I can head out anytime."
He glanced to the bar again, watching the petite, feisty girl work a moment before returning his gaze to CJ. "If it's okay with her, sure." Sitting up, he asked, "You have someplace in mind I can take you, or...?"
"You know what? Whatever ya had in mind for the other date? Just do that. No need to go brainstorming on something new..." She looked back towards the bar, and gave Nevada a cute smile and puppydog 'can I?' eyes, clasping her hands sweetly by her cheek.
Nevada waved the other woman off with a mock roll of her eyes and then attended to someone's order.
"Actually..." Danny started, his hand moving to the back of his neck as he looked rather embarrassed, "She wanted to hang out here a couple of hours, but honestly?" He gestured with a thumb from his other hand, "This place isn't really my style. I would've preferred some place more...quiet?" In all honesty, the nurse would've just been happy renting a movie and ordering in, but he so-called date loved going out.
"Well then, what would YOU like to do? I'm not a hard gal to please..."
She wasn't, either. Years of barely scraping by had taught her to make due with simple pleasures.
The nurse voiced what he'd been thinking and then explained, "Half the time I stick close to home anyway, in case I get called in. If the hospital needs extra people or someone needs their shift covered..." Danny shrugged again.
"You're really a giving person, aren't you." She found herself amazed a little. She didn't know many truly selfless people, and when she met one, it never failed to impress her.
Danny, modest as ever, shrugged, "People are influenced by those around them. Before my dad died," <i>by a bloodsucking fiend</i>, the nurse mentally added, "He taught me right from wrong, you know, the foundations. And my stepdad...brought music in my life when I really needed it." Yeah...Danny had his rebellious phase before Charlie came along. It seemed like all the kids were acting out in some way, but considering the circumstances in which Danny's father died...he found it to be completely understandable.
"Well, that would explain me then." CJ snickered, as her mother and father were a bartender and a lounge singer, respectively. It would certainly explain her outgoingness. "So can I trust you to be a good boy if we go hang out at your place then?"
He stood and teased CJ, "Only if you're a good girl." Danny chuckled, standing aside so she could pass him, "What do you mean, that would explain you?" He asked curiously.
She headed for the door, walking alongside him. "My parents were both very outgoing. Mum was a bartender like me, Dad used to be a lounge singer in the 70s."
Moving through the press of bodies within the club, Danny's shoulder brushed against hers, and the nurse felt that tingling tickle at human contact. The kind you still felt even after the contact was over. A small moment passed before Danny finally smiled and said in mild surprised, "Really? A lounge singer? Wow, I guess we really are influenced by those around us." They hit the outside where the air was slightly cooler, but not much considering it was California and the nurse hailed a cab. Giving the driver his address, Danny was soon stepping aside again, to let CJ into his apartment.
Like Danny, the apartment was modest, decorated in various shades of brown and cream and was relatively neat save for the few dishes stacked by the sink and some clothes drapped across chairs, a couple of beer bottles sitting on the coffee table in front of his dark brown leather couch that usually ended up being the nurse's bed than his <i>actual</i> bed. Jutting a thumb to the refrigerator, Danny asked, "You want anything to drink?"
"Just grab me a beer? Not real picky, whatever kind ya have will be fine." CJ rarely got drunk, as alcohol had never been a big deal to her. Hell, she'd been having beers while watching hockey with her dad since she was 14.
As evidenced by the two bottles on the coffee table, Danny was a Guinness man. As he moved to the kitchen he turned back around, walking backward, "Uh...pick out whatever you want to watch and...make yourself at home." He smiled, turning to the fridge to pull out two bottles of Guinness.
"Sweetheart, I really don't care what we watch. I'm gonna have a great time just talking, and gettin' to know ya." Again, she wasn't the type to mince words. "Seriously... I wasnt kidding when I said I'm not hard to entertain."
Handing over one of the Guinness bottles, Danny replied, "Here you go!" He took a swig of his own while moving over the bookcase that held all his music CDs, books, and movies. His finger dragged along the spines of VHS and DVDs and considering the time of year, <i>Urband Legends</i> caught his eye. Chuckling, he pulled the DVD out and revealing it to CJ.
"Ooooh... thinking we'll watch something scary and I'll have to cling to you for comfort?" She asked with a saucy wink. "...good strategy. Even if I'm not scared, I might have to do it just for the effort."
Laughing, he nodded, "You totally figured out my plan." Setting his Guinness bottle on the coffeetable, Danny moved to crouch down in front of his TV, inserting the disc into the DVD player.
"I keep thinking about getting myself one of those things for Christmas this year..." she remarked, looking at the DVD player. "They're becoming way popular, and I actually might be able to afford one this year." She really didn't have anyone out here, so her Christmas was generally buying herself a few gifts and putting them under her own tree.
"Really? Well then, maybe I should get you a DVD for Christmas this year." That is, of course if they were either A) still dating (IF they were dating) or B) decided they were better off friends. Settling next to her on the sofa, he grabbed his Guinness bottle and draped an arm across the back of the sofa. Swiveling his head in her direction as the movie started, Danny warned CJ, "FYI, it's not that you're unpleasant company or boring, but...I have a tendency to nod off when I'm stationary for a while." He gave her an apologetic look.
"Ok. First? No way am I letting you spend tons of money on me like that." Especially since they just met. Who knew how she'd feel if things actually went anywhere. "Second? I get that totally, with how little sleep you get. I'll just have to... find ways to keep you awake." Yeah, she had to give a little wink with that. Working where she worked? She had to have a little bit of flirt in her.
A chuckle fell from his lips at the comment about not spending a ton of money on her and then he cleared his throat. A smile was still on his face, but he modestly looked away at the suggestion of keeping him awake.
"So... did you always wanna be a nurse? It's such a good, noble profession." She always had admired doctors, police, the people that really made a difference.
"Not always." Danny took a swig of beer, "One of my friends had gotten into an accident just before we started high school. That was...an eye opener in more ways than one." He looked at her then, a teasing grin on his face, "Did <i>you</i> always want to be a bartender?"
"Nope. Still don't, really." If nothing else, CJ was always honest. She didn't believe in sugar-coating anything, for anyone. "But it pays the bills, especially at Avarice. Like I said... for a bartending job? The Bales pay very nicely. Plus I get tips. And it's fun. Just... not what I wanna do with my life. But I'm not really full of other prospects, so..."
Setting his beer bottle aside, Danny shifted his body so that he could face her. Propping his head up with a fist, "Is there anything you want to do besides bartending? I mean, like...when you were little. What did you want to do when you grew up?"
"I wanted, like every other girl that moves to Los Angeles probably, to be an actress. A biiiig movie star. Then real life bites you in the ass and reminds you why they're called 'dreams'." She said, not even bitter anymore. She'd had plenty of time to come to grips with her life now.
He made an empathetic noise and then smiled, "I'm sure you would've been great." Danny glanced to the TV, "Unlike the cheezy blond in this movie."
"Cheezy, yes. But admittedly hot." She acknowledged with a rather unladylike snort. "Hey, I got no problem admitting another chick's gorgeous."
Danny laughed, reaching for his bottle and clinked it against CJ's, "I'll drink to that!" Which he did, taking another swig.